This invention relates to safety lighting, especially for road or highway conditions when a vehicle emergency exists. Heretofore, high intensity lights have been employed for this purpose, but often inadequate for want of visibility. That is, such emergency lights are most often obscured because of their location and interference by objects between said light and those persons sought to be warned, for example of impending danger. It is auto accidents and emergencies which are of concern, when an auto is wrecked or stalled in a dangerous situation to oncoming traffic. Therefore, it is a general object of this invention to provide an extensible light for attachment to a vehicle wrecked or stalled and stopped along a road or highway in a dangerous situation. With the present invention, the light source is mounted and extended from the vehicle in order to avoid obscurity, which otherwise results when such a light is closely attached to the vehicle.
High intensity halogen strobe lights are widely used as warning lights, instantaneously energized at uniform time intervals by a battery powered capacitor discharge circuit. Such lights are self contained within a housing provided with mounting means in the form of a magnet to be applied to a steel body part of the vehicle, and with a lens to be faced in the direction of oncoming traffic. An ON-OFF switch provides control over its use. It is an object of this invention, therefore, to employ the aforesaid self contained battery powered intermittent discharge circuitry and switch control, in combination with an extensible light source, for compact storage and most importantly for extensibility in order to avoid its obscurity.
An object of this invention is to provide an omnidirectional light source which need not be aimed in the direction of oncoming traffic. With the present invention, a circular Fresnel lens surrounds the light per se that is intermittently energized. Accordingly, the light souce can be viewed from any approach to the scene involved.
It is another object of this invention to provide for said extensibility of the light source by the use of a telscoping support of tube formation that carries the electrical conductors necessary for operation of a high intensity strobe light of the type under consideration. As disclosed herein, the strobe light is a halogen light that requires three conductors, all of which must be extended along with extension of the light source from the mounted base or housing that is attached to the vehicle body. The extending tubular telescoping members withdraw the conductors from the base or housing, and conversely return the conductors into the base or housing.
It is still another object of this invention to provide conductor storage and supply means, which enables withdrawal and return of the conductors from and into the base or housing. In practice, there are three conductors of spring material coiled loosely in the base or housing and entered into the telescoping members to emanate into the light source for its energization. As will be described, the coiled conductors are anchored at their one ends in the base or housing and connected to the controlling circuit means, and they are carried upwardly and downwardly at their other ends by the inner tubular telescoping member.
The foregoing and various other objects and features of this invention will be apparent and fully understood from the following detailed description of the typcal preferred form and application thereof, throughout which description reference is made to the accompanying drawings.